Well, things have changed. Today’s baby namers are putting a tremendous amount of thought into nicknames. Not only are they more willing to put them on the birth certificate (Gracie, Gus), but they are placing almost as much importance on their babies’ everyday/pet names as on their birth certificate appellations, sometime picking the colloquial form first and then finding a formal name that’s fits it.

And in many cases, the connections between the two are way less direct than they used to be, sometimes just sharing a first initial, or playing with a middle or last syllable, such as using Lia for Cecilia or Amelia.

Our own nameberries are especially inventive when it comes to creative nicknaming. Here are some of the recent examples we’ve noticed: